MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Death of Argentine soldier in barracks ruled murder

The judicial authorities have been anything but expedite in declaring the soldier's death a crime

The death of an Argentine soldier in Zapala, in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, has been ruled a homicide and will be investigated as such, it was reported in Buenos Aires.

Laboratory tests showed that Pvt. Pablo Córdoba, who was found dead of two gunshot wounds on June 1, had no gunpowder on his hands. Suicide was therefore ruled out. The forensic report also stated that ”it cannot be determined which of the two bullets (one in the chin and the other in the temple) caused the soldier's death.

The case will be handled by Federal Judge Hugo Horacio Greca, it was also stated.

The body was found in the 16th Artillery Group in Zapala, the same place where Private Omar Carrasco was murdered in 1994, leading to the abolition of military conscription in Argentina.

The victim's family welcomed the new verdict after claiming that it was impossible that their son committed suicide with two shots to the head, which the authorities were slow to admit. They also called for Greca to be removed from the case “for his alleged lack of impartiality.”

“So far, everything has proven us right, and we are going to find out who killed my son. There are several people involved,” Córdoba's mother, Natalia Uribe, told local media.

“They have made us go through very painful months, trying to tarnish my son [and] us. They have put us through very difficult moments,” she stressed.